Web application developer

Build projects without reference in Visual Studio

Written by: willem
| Apr 13 2015 9:28 PM

In the Visual Studio project for The Monack Framework packages are loaded dynamically. With this architecture there are no references from the main project to the package project which causes the package project not to built when the main project is built. In this post I will explain how to make sure all projects are built, even if there is no reference to that project.

In The Monack Framework I load dynamically modules on runtime. The framework scans the install directory for libraries that implement the IPackage interface and installs the modules in the packages. Because there is no reference to the package project it is not built when the the main project is built, so every time there is a change in the package you need to do a manual build of the package project.

To trigger a built every time your run the main project, go to “Tools” and then “Options” in the Visual Studio menu. Open “Projects and Solutions” en click “Build and Run”.

Uncheck “Only build startup projects and dependencies on Run”

Set “On Run, when projects are out of date” to “Always build”.

Click Ok and that’s it. Now if you change any project in your solution it will be built if the start up project is built.